


When Worlds Collide

by nindroidzane



Category: The Centricide (Webseries)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Angst, M/M, anprim's gonna be called grug, bc he was free of petty human emotion ah yes, both eventually i hope, lil blood, sorry about the title it's all i could think of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23936425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nindroidzane/pseuds/nindroidzane
Summary: The scruffy man Transhumanist found in his kitchen is going to make him feel things he doesn't want to feel.Stupid luddite.
Relationships: Transhumanist/Anarcho-Primitivist
Comments: 18
Kudos: 69





	1. 01010011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01101101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so bad for adding binary lmk if I should add translations  
> Or have this: https://lingojam.com/EnglishtoBinary

Light flickered from Transhumanist's eyes as he awoke, dimly lighting up the room. A loud crashing was coming from somewhere else in the apartment. 

_01001101 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01101001 01101101 01100001 01101100_ , he thought to himself, venturing out of bed with minimal caution. Wild animals could be dangerous, and he was programmed with self-preservation. As any good robot should be.

With a few taps to the buttons sticking subtly out from his metallic wrist, his eyes shone brighter, and he stepped briskly from his neatly organized room. The rest of his apartment was usually just as put together, but as he headed towards the source of the noise, it was clear by his scattered belongings that some other being had broken in. 

Transhumanist wasn't bothered by this, though. He simply added a reminder to his internal log, to clean it up tomorrow and replace anything that may have been damaged by this creature. 

_01010010 01100101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100001 01100100 01100100 01100101 01100100_ , a mechanical voice rang in his head. He hummed in response, although he didn't need to. 

A loud clang came from what the robot now realized was his kitchen. He didn't need a kitchen, of course. There wasn't even much food kept in there, only enough to be hospitalitable to any humans who might come around. Still, it must have been enough to attract unwanted guests. 

Another clang pulled him closer to the little-used room, and he quickly flicked on the light. 

Frozen on his counter was a human, dirty and surrounded by destroyed tin foil. 

If Transhumanist could be surprised, he would have been. What was this man doing in his kitchen at 3:45 am? Why did he look like he was pulled straight out of 60,000 BC? The robot barely had time to process these questions before he was pounced at and knocked to the ground. His head hit the floor with a metallic clang. 

He looked indifferently up at his attacker, if somewhat defensively. It didn't hurt, but this human could potentially cause damage to his systems, and he would prefer him to just leave peacefully. If he didn't leave peacefully… he didn't look like much of a threat.

"Technology make Grug sick." The man grunted. He seemed quite angry.

_01001000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100001 01101011 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100100 01100100 01101100 01111001 00101110_

“Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ.” Transhumanist requested.

A louder grunt and the banging of a large bone against his head was all the response the robot got. 

With a click, he shocked the strange man with a small bolt of electricity. He jumped off with a yelp.

“Lᴇᴀᴠᴇ.” He repeated in his monotone voice. Sitting back up, he noticed the man laying very still. 

Odd. That only should have been enough to give him a small shock. 

Leaning over him, he quickly realized that his calculations had been correct as this 'Grug' swiftly punched him in the face. 

_01010000 01101100 01100001 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100001 01100100 00111111_

Very strange.

'Grug' started to make very loud noises, apparently preparing to attack again. With a mechanical hum, Transhumanist fired up his arm laser and pointed it directly into the intruder's face. A whimper told him he wouldn't have to use it.

“Lᴇᴀᴠᴇ.” He told him, in the same tone as before. 'Grug' was silent. 

Now to decide how to dispose of him, since he very clearly wasn't planning to leave on his own accord. 

_01001100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110010 01100001 01110100 00111111_

No, that seemed wrong somehow. Not from a moral standpoint, but from an efficiency one, seeing how he was much larger and arguably more dangerous than most rats. 

_01010000 01100101 01110010 01101000 01100001 01110000 01110011 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101100 01101111 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101000 01101001 01101101 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100100 01101111 00101110_

Yes, maybe that was it. It would be somewhat more difficult for a fully grown man to get back in, especially after he seemed to process the threat he could unleash on him. Maybe the encounter will have scared him away for good.

Straightening back up, the robot gripped the man by the back of his tattered shirt and hauled him effortlessly into the air. He flailed and recklessly swung his bone around in response. 

_01010001 01110101 01101001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101101 01101111 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01111001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01101001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01110011 01100011 01110010 01110101 01100110 01100110_ , he mused internally. 

Transhumanist decided it would most likely be better if he took 'Grug' all the way out of the building and dumped him outside, rather than letting him loose in the halls of the apartment building. He seemed frightened when the elevator doors closed on them, banging on the doors with his fists after his bone had been confiscated. 

The scene stirred an almost familiar feeling within Transhumanist. Tilting his head slightly to one side, he pulled the man away from the doors. A low whine escaped him, and he hunched in on himself. The feeling intensified. 

On the ground floor, Transhumanist once again grabbed the worn shirt and lifted him off the ground. There was much less resistance as he carried him towards the front entrance. 

_01001000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101001 01110110 01100101 01101110 00100000 01110101 01110000 00111111_

A new feeling. This time, he could identify it.

_01000111 01110101 01101001 01101100 01110100 00101110_

He glanced at the man. Large, pleading eyes gazed back at him. The previous feeling mixed with the unusual guilt, muddling his processors. The man, he realized, hadn't spoken since his initial aggression.

Interesting.

Attempting to push these feelings aside, as he hadn't felt them in a very long time and they are starting to catch up very fast, he strode towards the door, picking up his pace a bit. 

A flash of lighting and a crack of thunder greeted him as he pushed the heavy doors open. Heavy rain pattered onto the two of them, and Transhumanist tossed the strange man onto the ground before it could soak into his circuits. 

He didn't leave right away. 

'Grug' was staring into the sky, drenched already but seemingly unaware of it. He turned to the robot, head cocked inquisitively and looking much less defeated. 

He still didn't speak, but something felt very odd within Transhumanist. Warm. The rain splattered noisily against his metal frame, but he was rooted to the spot. Feeling things he'd been promised he'd never feel again years ago. 

_Fuck._

A moment passed. 

Grug continued to stare, almost expectantly.

The next time the sky flashed, the two of them were back inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help I'm making a commitment


	2. 01010011 01101000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm so slow lol

The television seemed to distress Grug. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, at least not in a human.

He still hadn't spoken a word since they came back inside, but the low growls and fixated glare on whatever show he was watching was more than enough evidence he didn't like it. Giving his bone back proved to be a mistake as well, when the man jumped up to smash the screen to bits.

“Pᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏᴡɴ.” The robot snatched the bone from him again, annoyed.

_ Annoyed. That's just fantastic. _

Not that it was the first time Grug had annoyed him. No, he was quite good at that already, after fighting the towel Transhumanist was trying to dry him with like a wet cat. 

Now it was wrapped around his shoulders, at least, and he was gripping it tightly. His hair was dripping wet, and his finger was damp with-

“Dᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴏᴜᴄʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ!” He gripped Grug's wrist tightly and took the piece of glass from his hand, tiny drops of blood smearing both of their fingers red. 

The emotion in his voice, it wasn't just in his head anymore, troubled him, but he pushed that to the back of his mind. There was another matter to deal with right now. 

Grug was squirming to get out of his grip, but, to Transhumanist's satisfaction, it wasn't doing him any good. 

Then, to Transhumanit's dismay, he started kicking up glass from the television screen into the robot's face. It bounced off the smooth metal, and showered back over his attacker. 

Transhumanist did a quick assessment of a now glass flecked Grug. The man had covered his face with the battered towel. And he hadn't made a noise. Was that a good sign?

“Gʀᴜɢ?” He prodded one of several small cuts. 

A whimper was his response. 

Carefully, the robot picked him up and carried him to his bathroom. There was surprisingly little restraint, though he refused to sit anywhere but the floor. 

“I ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴍᴀɴʏ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴs ᴛʜɪs sᴛᴜᴘɪᴅ.” He remarked, cleaning up the little wounds. His words felt oddly casual.

"Grug not stupid." The other grumbled, hunched up against the wall. His wrist was starting to bruise, Transhumanist noticed. He hadn't intended that.

At least he was speaking.

“Yᴏᴜ ᴋɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ ɢʟᴀss.” He hummed, dabbing hydrogen peroxide onto the cuts.

"Grug not know what glass  _ is. _ " Grug hissed, wincing at the sting. He didn't make him stop, though.

_ Maybe he's compliant? _

The lights briefly flickered in tune to a clap of thunder, and he covered his head with his arms with a sorrowful noise. 

_ Maybe not. _

“Qᴜɪᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ.” Transhumanist unraveled him impatiently. 

_ Impatiently. _ If only he were back in his unfeeling bliss. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts by another peal of thunder, followed directly by a hand trying to push him away. 

“I sᴀɪᴅ sᴛᴏᴘ.” Transhumanist grabbed his wrist again, trying to hold the man still. 

"Rain god angry." Grug choked out. He was visibly upset now, cowering whenever the thunder rang out. 

“Oᴋᴀʏ?” The robot put a bandage on one of the deeper cuts. At least he could be unfeeling about something. 

Grug tried to push him off again, but his fear made it feeble. 

He looked up at him with large, scared eyes. Some sort of warmth sparked inside Transhumanist again. But before he could process that he was absolutely not unfeeling about this, Grug lunged at him. 

Transhumanist quickly wrapped his arms around him, pinning his arms down in case this was an attack and congratulating himself for not acting on petty emotions.

Then the man buried his face into his chest, trembling slightly, and the warmth burned violently through Transhumanist's circuits. 

For a split second, he thought he was overheating. But no, he knew it couldn't be as easy as that. Not after all the unwelcome things he'd been feeling all night.

The thunder roared again, but Grug didn't flinch, held tight in the other's cold arms.

Transhumanist inwardly sighed. Just hours ago, everything was as it should have been. Now, here he was, comforting a feral man afraid of thunderstorms on his bathroom floor. 

The heat seared hotter through him, racing to his head, disrupting his thoughts. He _ liked _ this strange, inept man. 

He wasn't supposed to like  _ anybody _ . 

He wasn't even supposed to _ feel. _

Even if Grug was soft and warm against his chest. Even if the scorching heat the man brought chased away some of the emptiness he'd grown used to ignoring.

It still wasn't what he wanted. Experience, though now foggy and distant, told him the emptiness was better than the hell emotions would bring. They were unpredictable.

Grug's grip tightening around his torso brought Transhumanist out of his disorientation. 

_ Grug.  _

This was his fault. His fault  _ entirely _ . What gave him the right to break into his house like vermin and then expect comfort? The warmth was quickly replaced with a flash of equally intense cold. 

There was no reason to do this. It was kind enough just to let him stay.

Pausing a moment to collect himself, Transhumanist removed Grug from where he clung to his metal frame. He whined softly, but the robot only rose and shot him an icy glare. 

_ 01000001 01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100101 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101110 _

The thought flashed through his mind. He pushed it out of focus and, with a final glance back at a confused, shivering Grug, strode coldly out of the bathroom. The door shut with an unintended slam. 

Soon after, soft calls of distress mixed with the pattering of rain. Transhumanist drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank u for the nice comments


	3. 01000010 01110101 01110010 01101110

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update uhh techprim time

Grug was nowhere to be found when morning came.

Of course, he wasn't too concerned. Perhaps his display last night had scared him off, or he had simply gone back to whatever strange place he'd come from. Regardless of the reason, Transhumanist wasn't bothered by his absence. 

Though, a nagging in the back of his mind did hope he would return. One he could ignore, of course.

Work went almost silently. The mechanical click of his keys contrasted with the noisily splattering rain against his windows, but it wasn't hard to keep focused. 

_01001001 00100000 01101110 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100101 01100110 01100110 01101001 01100011 01101001 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101011 01100101 01111001 01100010 01101111 01100001 01110010 01100100 00101110_ , he noted absentmindedly, not taking a pause in his typing. 

A loud crash sounded from the kitchen. Excitement pulsing through his otherwise efficient form, he jumped to his feet, nearly knocking his computer to the ground in the process. 

_Grug? Could he have come back?_

Another thrill shot through him as he shot to the kitchen. Scanning wildly around for his companion, he noticed a few broken plates on the ground, by an open window. The excitement was quickly crushed by disappointment. 

_Of course it was just the wind_ , he thought glumly, beginning to pick up the broken pieces. Then he froze, catching himself.

_It wasn't supposed to be like this. It's all Grug's fault._

Taking a deep breath, he clenched a piece of the plate. 

_01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100111 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101011 00101110_

Releasing the breath, which he really had no need for, he picked up the remaining bits of plate and got up, intending to get back to his computer work. 

When he returned to his living room, there was Grug. Sitting right in the middle of the floor.

“Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ?” Transhumanist couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. 

Grug looked up from scratching his mangy hair, looking slightly disheveled. 

"Grug not leave." He grunted. His head was cocked slightly to the side, one ear pointed to the sky. Thunder rumbled gently, and he tensed, but stayed put.

“Wʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ?” The robot questioned, half to himself. He was already scanning the room, picking up traces of dirt the rain hadn't managed to wash off the man. They seemed to lead to his closet. 

Ignoring the question, Grug picked at one of his bandages, most of them seeming to be gone already. Transhumanist stepped lightly around him, towards the closet, and peeked inside. A few discarded bandages lay beside a crumpled pile of mostly unused clothes. A shot of triumph sparked through his systems, but he quickly suppressed it. 

“Wᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ɴɪɢʜᴛ?” He asked the man, not really expecting an answer. Instead, he simply began to clean up the mess his closet had become. 

On the edge of his senses, he heard the gentle rumble of thunder. He paid no mind to it, as it was no threat. Evidently, he was wrong, as a frightened Grug barrelled into his side, knocking them both into what remained of the clothes pile. 

“Gᴇᴛ ᴏғғ ᴍᴇ.” He found himself grumbling, an unusual annoyance in his voice. Heaving a sigh, he tried to pull off Grug from his arm. The annoyance used to be normal, back when he was a simple human like the one whimpering against his shoulder. But his pathetic display only reminded him why he wasn't too keen on having those uncomfortably familiar feelings back.

Looking down at Grug, intending a sharp remark about his intelligence, he found those wide, green eyes staring up at him again. The annoyance, somehow, melted away, and he found himself staring into them. They were pretty, the glow from his own eyes making them shine, and the longer he stared the fuzzier his head felt. 

Satisfied that he'd stopped trying to kick him out of his lap, Grug pressed his face up against the robot's cold shoulder. The fuzziness in his brain was accentuated by a static buzzing in his ears. He felt sick to his artificial stomach, and terribly hot. 

_Do I still like him? Am I dying?_

“Gʀᴜɢ?” The static leaked into his voice, but the man seemed unbothered, once again turning his gaze up to Transhumanist's face. This time, though, his eyes didn't seem so sweet. 

"You okay?" He asked quizzically, gently pressing a hand to the robot's face. If he could've thrown up, he would have right then.

A warning flashed in front of his vision, blocking his view of the concerned Grug.

_01000101 01111000 01100011 01100101 01100101 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01111000 01101001 01101101 01110101 01101101 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101101 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101_

Pushing it to the back of his mind, he rubbed his searing forehead. He was only overheating. It still wasn't good for him, but at least he wasn't-

"Please answer Grug." A voice pleaded, very close to his face. Grug leaned in, brows furrowed and face laced with concern. Their cheeks brushed, and Transhumanist felt like he was going to melt. 

Silent, he watched through multiplying warning messages as Grug tried to figure out what was wrong with him. Thunder sounded, seemingly far away, though logically closer than he was hearing it, but the man's firm gaze at him didn't falter. His circuits burned hotter. 

_He has no idea what he's doing_ , he thought to himself, the sound drowning in static and Grug's concerned voice. But still, he found himself admiring the human in front of him. It made him feel ill, overwhelmed with a flood of conflicting emotions, most of which he could hardly identify after all this time. 

Grug pressed his hand against his cheek again, though this time it felt purposeful. 

Mostly, it felt _hot._

Blurred through brightly coloured warnings, he saw a look of determination on Grug's face as he wrapped his arms around his metal frame. It warmed his chest. 

Then the world went dark.


	4. 01000011 01101111 01101111 01101100

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that I'm back before a month

Everything felt wet. 

His eyes flickered on, taking in his surroundings. The setting sun cast out an orangish glow between thick grey clouds, its pale light reflecting off the slick puddles that covered his metallic body. A pleased looking Grug was sat at his side, staring down intently. 

"You awake." He smiled, droplets of rain dripping down from his hair. 

“Yᴇs.” Transhumanist looked up at him, confused. “Wʜʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ? Iɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴀɪɴ?”

"Rain cool you off." Grug smiled wider. "You feel better?"

“Nᴏ.” Grug's face fell.

“I'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ sᴜᴘᴘᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴛ ᴡᴇᴛ.” He chided, though he realized he wasn't actually annoyed with him. Maybe his feelings issue was finally resolved. 

"You were too hot…" Grug shook his hair out miserably, water splattering onto the robot's face. A wave of guilt told him his emotions were definitely still out of check.

“...ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ.” He tried to comfort the man. He'd only wanted to help, after all. “I ᴅᴏ ғᴇᴇʟ ᴄᴏᴏʟᴇʀ ɴᴏᴡ.”

Grug perked up a little and pushed the hair out of his face. "Can dry you off, too." He smiled.

“Tʜᴀɴᴋs, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ-” Transhumanist began to sit up, but was cut off by a painful shock of electricity. Grug pushed him back onto the wet ground. 

"Grug will help you." The man placed a hand on his chest and gave him a firm look. "Stay."

Transhumanist frowned inwardly as Grug got up and went back into the apartment building. Since when did he take orders from him? But still, he remained on the cold sidewalk, waiting for the man to return. Showing him up wasn't worth the effort right now. 

When Grug did return, it looked like he had every towel, blanket, and cloth in his whole apartment. With a slightly displeased look down at the robot, he began to try drying him off with a handful of small towels. 

_This is nice_ , Transhumanist thought to himself, the chill of night beginning to settle around them as Grug continued to dry. He frequently found himself staring up at the man, in some odd type of admiration, as he worked. 

A hard knock on his chest pulled him out of his contented daze. He shoved Grug's arm away, pleased to find that his arms were dried, and not fried or rusted. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ғᴏʀ?” He tried to sound annoyed, for his image's sake, but he was in such a good mood that it came off light and breezy. 

"Just thinking." Grug grunted, splaying a blanket haphazardly over the robot's face. 

“Aʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ?” Transhumanist's voice came out muffled, but he didn't bother to move his companion off. 

A pause. "You." Grug answered after a moment, scrubbing a little rougher than he had been before. Transhumanist was almost flustered. 

“Oʜ?” He prompted, gently pushing the blanket away before something broke.

The man simply grunted, gathering the towels and blankets back in his arms and offering a hand to help him stand. 

Transhumanist hesitated. Normally he would decline, as he could obviously get up on his own, but would it be so bad to accept the gesture and spare his new roommate's feelings? Especially seeing as he'd just overheated and then been drenched one right after the other?

As he stared at the expectant man's hand, he felt heat rising again. 

_This has nothing to do with possible emotions for him_ , he told himself, though he swore the ticking of his artificial heart skipped a beat when he grabbed Grug's rough, warm hand. 

He barely had a moment to think about it, though, as Grug hauled him quickly to his feet with a surprising amount of strength. It threw him so off balance that he nearly toppled into the man.

“Cᴀʀᴇғᴜʟ!” He spluttered, more startled than anything else. 

Grug just grinned, looking amused. "Sorry. You a little heavy."

“Mᴀʏʙᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴀ ᴛɪɴʏ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ.” He teased. Grug's perplexed face told him his robotic voice wasn't meant for teasing. 

"Grug not tiny." He growled, though it was a wounded sound, like an injured fox who'd just lost a battle. 

“Yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴠᴇʀᴀɢᴇ ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ ᴏғ ᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴜʟᴛ ᴍᴀʟᴇ.” Transhumanist shrugged, attempting to comfort him somewhat. 

Grug blinked at him. 

“Yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴛᴀʟʟ.” He reiterated. The man smiled. 

"Oh. Thank you." He bumped his head lightly against Transhumanist's shoulder. It was his turn to be confused. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ?" He stared at the man, who stood back up straight and tipped his head slightly to the side. 

"...you wouldn't get it." Grug concluded after a moment of silence. His face was flushed slightly pink. 

“Oᴋᴀʏ.” Transhumanist dismissed it, slightly annoyed. If he wouldn't tell him, it wasn't important enough for him to know. “Lᴇᴛ's ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ.”

Grug nodded and handed over a few towels to the robot, and both headed into the building before the rain could break again. Grug was taking the stairs, even though the elevator was much faster, he noted. He followed him that way, to keep an eye on him. It would be annoying to have to wait at the top for him.

He soon realized Grug was faster than he gave him credit for, and he found himself having to chase after him to keep up. 

Then he found himself slowing down to admire how Grug was hurtling up the stairs. He was thin and lithe, climbing up the railings and leaping up several stairs at a time. In comparison, he felt loud and clunky, loud metal clangs ringing throughout the stairwell with every step he ran. With a jolt, he realized this was the first time he was uncomfortable with himself since… before getting his new body? When he was first becoming used to it? It was all so long ago, and a little too foggy to remember. But nonetheless, he remembered how it felt, and he wasn't eager that it was returning along with the other unpleasant feelings Grug had reawakened. 

Looking up to see that said Grug had long disappeared up the stairs, he continued to plod slowly upwards after him. At least he had brought back pleasant emotions as well, he reasoned. They felt better than he remembered. Maybe better than he'd given them credit for. And some of these feelings he didn't even recognize, so perhaps Grug was showing him some new feelings as well. 

He sighed a small sigh, stopping outside his apartment, whose door was swung wide open. He wasn't sure what to think, what to feel. It was all pulling him out of his comfortable and familiar life very quickly, and while he enjoyed Grug's company, he was proving to be a little much to deal with. And he'd barely been here very long at all. 

Looking into his apartment, Transhumanist tried to clear his mind. He just needed some time to think, and to get used to all these changes. 

Stepping inside and closing the door behind him, he spotted Grug, sitting cross-legged in the middle of his living room floor and looking regretfully up at the shattered television. 

Transhumanist allowed himself a small inward smile. At least there was one change he wouldn't mind getting used to. 


	5. 01010011 01110000 01100001 01110010 01101011

The rain had soaked into his circuits. 

It wasn't too serious, of course, and he couldn't bring himself to get angry at Grug for it. But it was still an inconvenience, and he'd decided calling somebody in to help would be faster than meddling with it on his own all day.

_01001101 01101111 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100_

The same error that had been popping up since last night returned just as he was finishing up his phone call for assistance. He hissed with annoyance. 

_I get it, I get it_ , he thought miserably, attempting to get out of bed for the hundredth time since he'd powered on. A crisp, sizzling pain kept him down on his back. Drawing a deep breath, he dimmed his vision and tried to take his mind elsewhere. 

_01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101110 01100101 01110111 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101100 01100101 01110110 01101001 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01110010 01101001 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 01100100 01100001 01111001_ , he reminded himself, drawing absentmindedly through his notes. He'd ordered it yesterday, for Grug. If he was more careful about his tendency to destroy technology, he thought it might be a nice distraction for the man. And it might keep him from destroying the rest of the apartment. 

He paused his train of thought. _01000100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110000 01100001 01110010 01110100 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00101110_

It had been awfully quiet today. 

Transhumanist sat up abruptly, a shock causing an involuntary twitch. “Gʀᴜɢ!” He shouted, finding his own water-fried voice a little unpleasant. 

Grug stumbled in, looking disoriented. "What wrong?" The bottom half of his face was smeared with fruit juice.

“Wʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ᴀʟʟ ᴅᴀʏ?” He twitched again. Grug eyed him warily. 

"Prayed to Sun God." He picked some chipped paint from the door. "Found berries in cold box."

 _Do I even have enough food here for him?_ Transhumanist shook his head; he'd worry about that later. 

“I s-sᴇᴇ.” He paused to regain control of his voice. Between this and overheating, Grug probably thought he was useless. Not exactly the kind of impression he was hoping for as a robot. 

_01001101 01101111 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100_

_Shut up_ , he growled silently to himself. Pushing the message out of sight, he refocused on the slightly spooked looking Grug. 

“I ʜᴀᴠᴇ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ.” Another twitch. “Yᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀʏ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ sɪɢʜᴛ.”

Grug opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again without speaking. He must have already had a run in with some of the humans around here, Transhumanist suspected. They likely wouldn't have treated him very kindly.

 _I didn't_ , he reminded himself guiltily. 

"You sick?" Grug pulled him out of his thoughts before he could begin dwelling on them. He was scratching more paint off the door with a fingernail. 

“Sᴏʀᴛ ᴏғ.” He shrugged, then flinched at the shock. Grug ducked behind the door, startled. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ?” A flicker of unease rose inside him. _  
_

He peeked back out from behind the door and looked the robot over curiously. "...Grug help?”

That warmed his frazzled circuits just a bit, and he relaxed. “Pʀᴏʙᴀʙʟʏ ɴᴏᴛ.” He admitted. Grug didn't exactly seem like the brightest bulb in the drawer. At least not when it came to machines. “Bᴜᴛ ʜᴇʟᴘ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ ᴛᴏ ғᴏᴏᴅ. Aɴᴅ sᴛᴀʏ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴇs.”

Grug looked disappointed. "Feel better." He mumbled, sounding much too concerned for this minor of a problem, and left the room, shutting the door behind him. 

_He's sweet_ , Transhumanist felt better already. Mentally better, anyway.

_01001101 01101111 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100_

A knock sounded at the door. 

_That was faster than expected._ He found himself startled, mostly pleased, but strangely lacking the empty sense of routine that usually accompanied these kind of visits. 

_Ah well._

Unfortunately, he still couldn't get out of bed. Instead, he just waited for the man to come inside. He already had his own key, after all.

"Transhumanist. You called about a moisture problem?" The technician knocked, then entered without waiting for a response, already speaking before he stepped into the room. 

“Yᴇs.” Transhumanist paused. “Aɴᴅ ʏᴇsᴛᴇʀᴅᴀʏ I ᴏᴠᴇʀʜᴇᴀᴛᴇᴅ.” He decided it best not to tell the man why that was. 

"Hm." He hummed simply, beginning to examine the robot. 

_Has this always felt so invasive?_ He kept his thoughts to himself.

"Doesn't look great. I think you'll need to go out for a repair." The technician concluded, scribbling something down on his clipboard. Transhumanist felt an unexpected flash of irritation. 

“Iᴛ ɪsɴ'ᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴇʀɪᴏᴜs.” He snapped. “Jᴜsᴛ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇᴀʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪᴛ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ.”

The man gave him a quizzical look. "What was that?" There was an almost dangerous undertone to his voice. 

_Now you've done it._ Talking back to humans was typically frowned upon, but he knew he was in the right here, and his frustration wasn't encouraging him to apologize. 

“I ᴄᴀɴ ᴅᴇᴀʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪᴛ.” He insisted. “I ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ɢᴇᴛ ғɪxᴇᴅ.” Grug needed more to eat. And he still had work to worry about.

The man scribbled something else down on his clipboard, a more serious expression donning his face. "I hate to break it to you, but there's no way you can do it yourself." He eyed Transhumanist's face suspiciously. "I think there's more that needs to be fixed, anyway. I'll schedule an appointment."

He longed to roll his eyes into the back of his head. “Fɪɴᴇ.” He spat out, just wanting to get him out of the apartment. 

"I'll keep in touch." With one last polite, but a tad venomous, glance, the technician left, not giving the robot a chance to respond. 

Annoyed, and embracing it for once, Transhumanist stubbornly hauled himself out of bed. His body still ached, and he was met with a few jolts of electricity as he left the room, but he brushed it off as an inconvenience. Right now, he just had to tell Grug he could come out of hiding. Wherever he was.

_01001101 01101111 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100_

The doorbell rang, and Transhumanist pushed the thoughts of his problem and encounter with the technician out of his mind. He would worry about it later. 

“Gʀᴜɢ?” The robot called. His voice still didn't sound right.

“Cᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ. Wᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ TV ᴛᴏ ɪɴsᴛᴀʟʟ.”


	6. 01010011 01101001 01100011 01101011

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops spilled dystopia juice

Eight straight hours of watching television probably wasn't good for his companion, but Transhumanist hadn't had the heart to pull him away when he seemed to be enjoying it so much.

At least, not until sitting alone with his thoughts, some colourful cartoon and a distracted Grug who wouldn't speak to him started to grate down on his already fuzzy mind. 

After one last episode ended, he shut off the television. The man looked at it in surprise, sadly putting a hand on the blank screen 

“Gʀᴜɢ. Wᴇ'ʀᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ɢʀᴏᴄᴇʀʏ sʜᴏᴘᴘɪɴɢ.” He nodded towards the door. With a shock to the throat, he twitched, and possibly sparked. 

"...what?" Grug asked quietly, eyes on where the sparks must have come out. 

“Wᴇ'ʀᴇ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ғᴏᴏᴅ. Cᴏᴍᴇ ᴏɴ.” Transhumanist headed briskly for the door, despite the dull pain, and Grug followed more hesitantly. Slightly irritated, the robot threw him a glance. His big green eyes were full of concern.

Hopefully he wasn't still worried about his "illness". 

_Probably just wondering why his show turned off_ , he decided, heading towards the elevator. Grug hovered outside the doors, still not thrilled about riding it again. 

“Usᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀɪʀs ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ.” Transhumanist waved his hand dismissively. “I'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ғᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ.” At least he knew the man would be quick.

Grug's eyes widened further, and he hesitated. He stood there, thinking, until the doors began to close. To Transhumanist's surprise, he dove between them, crashing into the wall beside him. 

“Gʀᴜɢ!” He audibly gasped. “I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ sᴛᴏᴘᴘᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ!”

The man got up like it was nothing, shaking out his hair. "Didn't know." He said simply, looking back up at him. His eyes were alight with worry. 

Transhumanist was shaken out of his moody daze. “Bᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇғᴜʟ ɴᴇxᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ.” He scolded, though he was pretty sure the man didn't care what he told him to do. 

Grug said nothing, still looking up in concern. 

Transhumanist changed the subject. “Wᴇ'ʟʟ ʙᴜʏ ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴇᴡ ᴄʟᴏᴛʜᴇs, ᴛᴏᴏ. Aɴᴅ ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ɢᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀ ʜᴀɪʀᴄᴜᴛ. Yᴏᴜ'ʟʟ ғɪᴛ ɪɴ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀʏ.”

Grug grunted, but he suspected he wasn't really listening to what he said. 

“Iᴛ's ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.”

No response. He only stared. 

“Gʀᴜɢ?”

Just as the elevator dinged, opening the doors again, Grug kicked him in the knee. He nearly buckled over, startled and in pain. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ғᴏʀ?!” He yelled, attracting a few glances from the lobby. 

Grug seemed unfazed. "You still sick." He frowned. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏᴇs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɪᴄᴋɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ?” He grabbed Grug's forearm, dragging him out of the elevator. More people were staring now. 

"Grug attacked you before, but you were okay." The man tapped his fingers together nervously. "Rain make you sick. And weak."

“I ᴀᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴡᴇᴀᴋ, Gʀᴜɢ.” He snapped, halting before the front entrance to turn on him. “I'ᴍ ғɪɴᴇ.”

Looking sad, Grug gently pulled his arm away. "You said you can't get wet." He rubbed his wrist right below where his hand had been, a bruise starting to fade. "And now you sick."

Transhumanist crossed his arms, trying to calm down. “I ᴀᴘᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴ, ʙᴜᴛ I'ᴍ ғɪɴᴇ. Rᴏʙᴏᴛs ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ɢᴇᴛ sɪᴄᴋ.”

"No?" Grug looked unconvinced. 

“Oғ ᴄᴏᴜʀsᴇ ɴᴏᴛ.” Getting impatient, he pushed open the door. “Nᴏᴡ, I'ᴍ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛ. Aʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛ?”

With a small nod, Grug followed him outside, almost reluctantly. 

_Calm down. Calm down._ Transhumanist repeated to himself as they walked. He felt bad for getting mad. None of this was Grug's fault. 

Well… it was, most of it. But nothing was maliciously Grug's fault, so he was still guilty for yelling at him. 

When they got to the mall, he led Grug to some clothing store. He could have ordered food and clothes, of course, and it probably would have been less risky than taking him out in public. But at the same time, trying to get the man to choose what he wanted from a screen seemed like a hassle, and he couldn't keep him cooped up in the apartment forever. Grug would just have to be on his best behaviour. 

Leaving him alone in the store was not the best way to ensure he would be. 

“Gʀᴜɢ!” He called, somewhat softly but with the new prickle that came with his waterlogged static. The man was nowhere to be found. “Yᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ sᴜᴘᴘᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀʏ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴏᴛʜᴇs ʀᴀᴄᴋ!”

To his horror, a loud crashing noise answered his calls. 

_Please don't be Grug, please don't be Grug._ Transhumanist's mind buzzed with anxiety. If it _had_ been Grug, they were both about to be in a lot of trouble. 

A grunt sounded behind a thick rack of coats, and Transhumanist quickly yanked the fabrics aside. Grug gazed up at him, surrounded by broken electronics and looking vaguely annoyed. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ…” He stared, nearly speechless. An anxiety fueled rage quickly erupted within him. “Wʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜɪs?! Wʜᴇʀᴇ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴇᴛ ɪᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʜʏ ɪs ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ?!” Not considering their surroundings, he screamed it all in his horrible, broken voice. Grug shrunk back, looking guilty rather than frightened. 

"Was in there." He pointed to a room, the door slightly ajar. A label read 'Security'. Transhumanist felt a lump in his throat. 

"Sorry." Grug apologized, looking like he genuinely meant it. "Grug will help you clean up." 

“Cʟᴇᴀɴ ᴜᴘ?!” The robot was glad he couldn't cry. “Tʜɪs ɪsɴ'ᴛ ᴍʏ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ, Gʀᴜɢ!”

Before the man could respond, a few robots stepped into a line behind him, each donning the same label as the door. Their path was blocked. 

_We're dead, we're dead, we're dead._

Carefully, he nudged the coats back into place. Grug was in more danger, he told himself. Grug wasn't from around here. 

The other robots seemed to hesitate at seeing Transhumanist as the apparent cause of the problem. Though, they must have heard the static in his voice when he'd yelled. A faint ticking sped up inside him. He hadn't known his heart could race like this. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ɪs ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ʜᴇʀᴇ?” One of them asked, voice monotone. 

Transhumanist wished he could carry the same tone. Instead, he tripped and stumbled over his words, stuttering too much to explain coherently what had happened, much less make up an excuse that erased Grug and got himself out of trouble. His fried systems only made it all worse.

“Is ɪᴛ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ?” One robot guard asked another. Transhumanist was surprised to find that it stung, but he wasn't in any position to say anything, even if he could manage to get it out. 

“Iᴛ ʟᴏᴏᴋs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀʏ.” Another one reached out to knock him on the head. Almost involuntarily, he shoved back. 

The three cold expressions remained blank for a moment, then fixed back on him. Instincts he didn't think he still had screamed at him to flee. But Grug was still hidden behind him, defenseless. 

_Could I fight them?_

Transhumanist quickly scanned them through his recently everpresent haze. There was no way he could. He was outnumbered, and damaged. 

_01001100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110_

The soft voice in his head made him flinch. That wasn't an option. He was sick, and broken, and he probably looked hysterical. They would surely send him off for scrap metal. The thought made him feel even more ill. 

_01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100010 01110010 01101111 01101011 01100101 01101110 00101110 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110000 01100001 01110011 01110011 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110_

The words flashed up alarmingly bright and clear. There was no softness to the cold, hard voice. 

_This isn't a warning. This isn't my thoughts._ The guards each grabbed one of his arms, the third one standing in front to lead the way. Transhumanist fought back without thinking, but his efforts were fruitless, and the guards marched him through the store, hardly seeming to notice. 

_I'm dead. I'm dead._ He kept repeating it back to himself, scared to hear the voice again, scared to be dismantled. 

Water splashed all around him. 

Bewildered, he whipped his head around. 

“G-Gʀᴜɢ?”

There he stood, violently shaking one of the big jugs of water the humans kept sprinkled all around the mall. A large metal beam, likely stolen from one of the clothing racks, lay at his feet. He picked it up once the guards, along with a dizzy with relief Transhumanist, were borderline soaked. 

"Let him go." The man growled, looking as feral as ever. 

_Just go_ , Transhumanist silently willed. With the guards weakened, he could definitely escape himself. 

Though he did feel very faint. 

Grug gripped the beam tighter. "Let him _go._ " He repeated angrily. The guard in front, who wasn't holding onto Transhumanist, moved forward to dispatch him. 

“Gʀᴜɢ, ɢᴏ, ɢ-ɢᴇᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ʜ-ʜᴇʀᴇ!” Transhumanist stuttered out, the fresh load of water not doing him any favours. A violent shock hit him, and he retched some sort of fluid. 

A loud bang made him lift his head, and he watched as Grug smashed the guard's would-be skull in over and over with his pole. Sparks flew from the caved in place where the robot's face had been as it fell to the ground. A mixed feeling of horror and admiration settled itself in the pit of his artificial stomach. 

Another guard, who had become a twitching, sparking reflection of himself due to Grug's initial attack, separated from Transhumanist to square off with the man as well. The final one resumed pulling Transhumanist out of the store and, too weak to resist, he stumbled along obediently. Only, this time they were both a little fried, and neither very fast. 

"Stop!" An enraged Grug yelled after them. He was trying to pull his weapon from the torso of the second guard, who hung limp from the end it was stuck to. Transhumanist shuddered. If the man had known that water trick when they'd first met, he would've been scrap a while ago. 

Kicking the former guard free from his metal pole, Grug immediately charged after the two remaining robots. Startled, Transhumanist slipped in the trail of water that followed them and crashed to the floor. Agony swept through him, and he could only watch through a haze as Grug tore apart the guard above him with an almost terrifying ferocity. 

Bolts and gears rained around him, and then the metal beam dropped beside his head. He flinched back. Dimly, he heard an alarm going off. 

_He needs to get out of here_ , he thought, terribly worried but unable to move. 

Then, as gently as a cloud, he was lifted off the floor. Confused, he lifted his gaze to look into Grug's. The slightly battered man looked to be straining just a bit, but he was surprisingly strong. 

"You okay." Grug murmured, voice equally as soft as it had been ferocious. 

Transhumanist longed to ask if he was hurt, or to just tell the man to run and get out of here while he still could. But he could barely keep his head up, and Grug had seemed capable of himself so far. So he simply nestled his head into Grug's arm as the man took off running through the mall. 

As he began to drift off, despite the jostling of Grug's sprint and the blaring alarms, one last message drifted into his mind. 

_01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100111 01110010 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101110_


	7. 01010011 01110100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01100011

Light shone intermittently through the trees, reflecting off the shiny metal of Transhumanist's form as he awoke in a lush bed of grass. Every part of his body felt like it was sizzling, almost as if somebody had stuffed him full of sparklers. 

Groggily, he tried to scan his surroundings and figure out what had happened. Grug's face popped up in his vision before he could take everything in. 

"You awake!" He beamed, one fist stuffed with leaves and the other gently touching the robot's face. Transhumanist couldn't lift his arm to remove him. 

“Y-ʏᴇ...s-s-s.” He stuttered out, feeling as though licks of fire were ravaging his throat. 

Grug's face quickly turned to a frown, and he stuffed his leaves into Transhumanist's face. "Eat these." He directed, not removing his hand. 

Transhumanist shook his head. 

"They make you better." He promised, gesturing to the thin woods around them. "Grug use these herbs all the time."

“Rᴏ-ᴏʙᴏᴛ-ᴛ-ᴛ's ᴅᴏɴ…'ᴛ-ᴛ… ᴇ…” His voice was engulfed in a harsh static. Weakly, he tried to move his head away from Grug's plants. The man took them off himself. 

"Then how Grug help you?" He clenched his herbs worriedly. Transhumanist tried to regain his voice.

“Cᴀɴ'ᴛ…” He managed, his lower torso burning with pain. He retched again, a black fluid spilling into the grass. 

"But you very sick!" Grug exclaimed, nudging the robot away from the puddle. Transhumanist noticed that his hands were stained green, and when he looked down at his own body, he saw that lumps of leaf pulp and smears of green juice nearly covered it. 

Grug shook the robot's face gently. "How can Grug help you?" He asked again, voice laced with worry and hand trembling. 

Transhumanist thought through the fog in his brain for a moment. Then, with a huff of effort, he lifted his wrist and typed a few numbers into it. Grug watched, hopeful. 

There was a ring in his ears, and then a man picked up. "Hello? Transhumanist?"

Transhumanist let out a pained hiss, mostly composed of static. He hit another button. 

"What was that?" The man asked. Grug stumbled backwards, startled by the new voice coming out of the robot's mouth. 

"What happening now?" He asked, reaching out to touch his face again. 

"Who is this? What's going on?" The man on the phone asked impatiently. 

"This… Grug." Grug told him slowly. "...you remember?"

The man didn't seem to care about his introduction. "Listen, can I just speak to Transhumanist? I know it was him who called."

Grug shook his head. 

"Hello?" The voice asked irritably. 

"Oh, um… no." Grug told him. "He sick."

"Sick, eh?" The man chuckled. "Made himself worse trying to fix it, I presume."

Grug frowned. "No. Was my fault."

"Yeah, whatever. Is he in pretty bad shape, then?" There was the faint scribbling of a pen in the background. "Do we need to have that appointment now?"

Grug nodded. Then, quickly, he responded with a "Yes."

"Fine. Bring him down to repair as soon as possible." The technician instructed, leaving him with mildly confusing directions before hanging up. Transhumanist was on the edge of consciousness. 

"Don't worry. Grug can help now." Grug murmured into the robot's ear, picking him up again. His muscles screamed in protest, but he would only have to carry him a little while longer. 

Transhumanist's head gently flopped to the side, his absent gaze staring up at him. A soft buzzing noise came from where his voice was supposed to be. 

"Shhh." Grug soothed, beginning his trek back out of the forest. His metal friend made another buzzing sound, like a swarm of angry bees. Only, the bees sounded more distressed than angry. 

Grug frowned, gently shifting his friend in his arms to make him more comfortable. He twitched, small flecks of light coming out of his eye the way they would from a fire. 

"You okay." Grug mumbled, trying to figure out how to comfort the sick robot. His arms were too full to do anything, and if he stopped to set him down, they would only take longer to get there. 

Another buzz arose from Transhumanist, sounding pained. Trying to think quickly, Grug bit his lip. 

That gave him an idea. 

Carefully, he leaned down his head and planted a comforting kiss on what he assumed to be the robot's forehead. He seemed to relax in his arms. 

Pleased with himself, Grug marched out of the forest, and into the bright, shiny city. Lights dazzled his eyes, and vehicles driven by both humans and robot raced all around on silver paths. Smaller paths were cluttered with objects, some which smelled like food, and people stepped over them as they went about their days. Sparkling robots, reflected by the sun, wielded brooms and bent to pick up the scattered objects, which made him wonder why they were even laying around there to begin with. 

Frozen for a moment, Grug tried to take everything in. It was overwhelming compared to the serene forest, where the worst it got was a big machine coming to steal a few trees. 

He looked down at Transhumanist, who must have fallen asleep by now. It had been one of those machines, accompanied by one of the ones who dug up mounds of dirt, who had prompted him to come here in the first place. They had taken his home, destroyed it. He hoped he wasn't ruining his friend's life as well.

Shaking the thoughts out like twigs in his hair, Grug set off down one of the littered paths, trying to remember the directions the man inside Transhumanist's head had given him. He'd scrawled them crudely in the dirt, so he would be able to picture them later, but it was much more difficult finding his way in this terrifying city than in his little stick drawing. 

Still, this was for Transhumanist. And he was sure Transhumanist would do the same thing for him. 


	8. 01010100 01100101 01100011 01101000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I was gone a month

Finding the building that would fix Transhumanist took most of the day. The sun had long set by the time they'd arrived, and at first Grug was worried he'd been too late. The inside looked dark, and nobody answered his loud bangs on the glass door for at least a couple of minutes. He'd even been considering just smashing the door open, so they would have to help Transhumanist right away. 

But, after a short wait, somebody finally answered them. 

"I did say as soon as possible, didn't I?" The man in the doorway grumbled. Grug perked up. That was the same voice that had been coming out of Transhumanist's glowing square of a mouth. 

"Sorry. Got lost." Grug apologized, thrusting his sick friend into the man's arms. 

He stumbled back, letting the robot crash to the floor. Grug growled. 

"What? You think _ I _ carry them around here?" The man rolled his eyes, then clapped twice. Another robot came to take Transhumanist off the floor. Grug stepped over to help, but he was blocked by the man's arm. 

"No need for that. We can handle him just fine." Something about his tone made another growl rise in his throat, but he didn't lash out. Not here.

"Grug coming too." He stamped his foot down firmly, looking boldly into the eyes of the other man. Grug was a few inches taller. That had its advantages in the forest. 

"Fine." He relented, looking annoyed. Apparently it had advantages here, too. "But don't get in my way. Or anybody else's, for that matter."

"Grug won't." Grug promised, relaxing a bit. There was still something in the man's voice keeping him on edge.

"Come along, then." The man ordered briskly, following the two robots down a sterile looking white hall. Grug followed more slowly, keeping a close eye on both the man and Transhumanist. 

They were taken to a room, which looked just as blank and bright as the hallway had, albeit less empty. Sharp tools lay on metal tables, and Transhumanist was laid onto a larger one between them. Grug shifted in his spot near the doorway. This building made him uncomfortable. Nothing was natural about it. It almost felt sinister. 

He gave himself a shake. It was probably fine. If Transhumanist was awake, he would tell him so. Some of the stuff he'd shown him at home was kind of fun, right? It was safe, surely.

Still, the harsh light and biting cold danced mockingly on his bare skin, and the hard floor did anything but ground him. He couldn't get that bad feeling out of the pit of his stomach. 

A strange  _ clank _ yanked him out of his thoughts and he jumped. The man had put on a long white coat, and was messing around with a hole in Transhumanist's chest with one of the shiny tools. Cautiously, he crept over to get a better look. 

The man shot him an annoyed glance. "Would you give me some space, you loon?"

Grug frowned slightly, but backed away, instead turning his attention to the silver objects on one of the tables. They almost seemed like sharp, metal sticks. 

His hand was slapped as he reached out to grab one. "Do you want me to fix him or not?" The man snapped, retrieving the metal stick for himself. He poked around inside Transhumanist with it. 

"Yes." Grug crept back up to the table. "That's why we here."

"Then stay out of the way and quit touching things." The man fixed him with a glare. "Do you understand?"

Grug nodded, busy peering into Transhumanist's chest. It was full of shiny metal, and red and blue stuff that looked like vines. Instinctively, he wanted to smash it up, but instead he rested a hand on his own chest. It would be strange not to have a heartbeat.

"Will he be okay?" Grug turned his wide eyed gaze up to the man after a few minutes of silence. He grumbled something Grug couldn't hear before raising his head. 

"If he wasn't going to be, I would have sent him off for scrap by now." The man rolled his eyes, reaching for something Grug didn't recognize. "This one isn't exactly irreplaceable."

He paused before using it, looking thoughtful. 

"Now that I mention it, however, he has been acting strange." The man narrowed his eyes at Grug, flicking quickly up and down over his body. Grug stepped back slightly, confused. 

Regaining his posture, he turned his attention back down to the robot in front of him. "Have you noticed anything… special about him?" His tone sounded much more casual now. 

"Special?" Grug asked hesitantly. Other than Transhumanist, he didn't really know any other robots. Were they supposed to act like the ones that had attacked them?

"Mhmm." The man hummed, almost absentmindedly. "Has he been acting more… human, maybe?"

Grug blinked. 

The man sighed softly. "How has he been treating you, then?"

"Good." Grug smiled, glad he could answer this question at least. 

"He hasn't treated you poorly even once?" He leaned slightly closer, his coat slumping over Transhumanist. 

"Well…" Grug's smile faded slightly. "Grug makes him mad sometimes."

"Is that so?" The man clicked his tongue, reaching into a small box for something. "Robots aren't supposed to do that, you know." 

"Be mad?" Grug furrowed his eyebrows, looking down at his unconscious friend. "Everyone's mad sometimes."

"Not robots." He tapped a pen against Transhumanist's head. The clinking sound made Grug wince. "They're not supposed to feel anything."

"Why not?" Grug frowned even further, feeling increasingly confused. He didn't care that much if Transhumanist got mad at him. It was just the way he was.

"They're supposed to make life easier for people, like you and I." This time, he tapped the pen against Grug's forehead. He swatted at it, becoming a little annoyed. 

"Life supposed to be hard. Like in forest." He grunted, hovering closer to the robot on the table. 

"The forest?" The man snorted. "Perhaps Transhumanist isn't the only broken one."

"Broken?" Grug snarled, reaching out to slap whatever strange object he'd pulled from that box onto the floor. "Grug is  _ not _ broken."

"You are if you think man belongs in the forest." The man chided, reaching down to grab it. "And Transhumanist's far more broken than you think, from the way he's been acting."

"Don't hurt him!" Grug pounced while the man was down, pinning him to the floor. "You just supposed to fix him!"

The man looked angry, but didn't attempt to move him. "I was only fixing the water damage tonight, anyway. I'll simply schedule a factory reset on his software for the rest of his issues." He paused. "Not that it will  _ hurt _ him."

Grug grunted, not budging. He had no idea what any of that meant.

"Get off of me, you imbecile!" The man snapped irritably. "He'll have the same emotional defect when you take him home tonight. Can you get that through your skull?"

Grug hesitated, then removed himself, allowing his captee to get up. "He won't be different?"

"He'll actually be able to move, if that counts as different." The man muttered, slipping the small object from the box into a slit in Transhumanist's shoulder. Grug let his shoulders droop slightly in relief, though he reminded himself to tell Transhumanist about the thing in his shoulder when they got home. 

"You done now?" He asked hopefully, frowning at the look he was given. 

"No, I've barely started. We'll likely be here all night." The man grumbled, rolling up one of Transhumanist's sleeves. Grug frowned to himself, already feeling tired from the day they'd had. Reluctantly, he took a seat in a chair in the corner. It was hard and uncomfortable, nothing like soft forest grass, and he would've much preferred the floor. But he had to be able to see what was happening to Transhumanist, even if he wasn't really sure what it was. He still didn't trust the man, and he wasn't about to let him do anything bad to his friend. 

But as the night dragged on, gravity dragged at his eyelids, and he found himself becoming more and more bored of the tinkering and drying happening halfway across the room. Eventually, he found himself curled up on the cold tile floor, unable to keep his eyes open. The unnatural sound of scraping metal and soft familiar beeping finally lulled him to sleep. 


	9. 01000010 01110010 01101111 01101011 01100101 01101110

Transhumanist groaned softly. He felt… strange, but much better than he'd felt in a while. Grug must have figured out his appointment. 

After a small stretch of his notably unsore arms, he allowed his eyes to flicker on. Grug, inches away from his face, smiled at him. 

"Oh, good, Grug was worried you-"

"Fuck, Grug, you scared me!" Transhumanist jolted, barely missing Grug's head with his own. Then he gasped, covering his mouth. 

Grug scooted backwards slightly, giving him some room. "Sorry. Was just worried." He looked down quizzically at Transhumanist's hands, still covering the bottom half of his face. "You okay?"

The robot glanced up at him, then slowly removed his hands. "M-my voice…" He murmured, resting one of them on his throat. It sounded smoother, more… _human._

Grug frowned a bit. "Don't worry, that's just temporary." He leaned over to pat his shoulder. "New voice coming in the mail."

The light in Transhumanist's eyes dimmed. "Why?" He mumbled, his excitement dulled. Despite his disappointment, he couldn't help but notice how wonderful speaking softly felt. 

"He was out of your voice." Grug poked Transhumanist's face. He looked like he was trying hard to remember everything. "So now you have to fix it yourself."

"I don't… I don't think I want to, Grug." He spoke slowly and deliberately, enjoying how it felt, and how it sounded. 

Grug's frown deepened. "But it coming today. And he said that one will break tomorrow."

"Break?" The disappointment weighed heavier inside him. Of course he wouldn't be able to sound human forever. Of course they'd thought ahead and given him a time limit. 

_01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110000 01110000 01101111 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 00101110_

The message clicked across his vision. Transhumanist wanted to wail like an infant, but he pushed both the feeling and message aside and focused his attention back on Grug, who was looking at him expectantly. 

"Did you say something?" The sound of his voice made him ache inside. It sounded just like how he used to sound. 

_They must have done this on purpose._

"Grug said you sound nice either way." Grug smiled a little, patting him on his metallic head this time. Transhumanist figured it was a lie. Grug of all people would hate his scratchy, grating, robotic voice, given that he already hated all other technology. Still, he didn't want to acknowledge that out loud, since he was only trying to be nice, and simply nodded in thanks. 

There was silence for a few minutes before Grug spoke up again. "You feel better?" He sounded hopeful, fidgeting with his fingers a bit. 

Transhumanist nodded again. He didn't want to hear his voice anymore, not if he didn't get to keep it. 

Grug bit his lip, tapping his fingers together more anxiously. "Um… good."

Guiltily, Transhumanist looked away. There seemed to be something else on his friend's mind, but he didn't want to talk about it right now. 

After a few more minutes of silence, Grug seemed to get the message. He got up quietly and left the room, mumbling an apology. Transhumanist burned with guilt, but he really didn't want to let those technicians win whatever weird torture game they were trying to inflict on him. He laid back down, deciding to just sleep this off until his new parts got here.

His glowing eyes dimmed into darkness. 

_01011001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 00101110_

The text stood stark against the blackness. Quickly, his eyes flashed back on. 

"Who are you?" He whimpered, startled by the inflection of his own voice. A spark of glee lit up inside him, despite his fear and confusion.

_01011001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100010 01110010 01101111 01101011 01100101 01101110 00101110_

Slightly irritated, if mostly just to cover up his discomfort, he ignored this message and tried to get back to sleep. But whisperings found their way into his ears, and he couldn't help but wonder if they'd done this to him on purpose as well. 

_Maybe I'm just paranoid_ , he thought to himself, disgruntled, but it did nothing to quell his worries. 

He must have eventually dozed off, because he was suddenly jolted awake by Grug jumping onto the end of his bed, holding a package up in the air. Once his confusion cleared, realization and disappointment settled in the pit of his stomach. He sighed to himself. He had no stomach, anyway.

"Open it." Grug grunted, shoving the box into his arms. Transhumanist looked up at him, subdued. 

"If you're that excited, you can open it." He muttered. The sound reinforced the ill feeling. 

Grug beamed and ripped into the box, cardboard flying all over the room. Transhumanist felt a flicker of warmth. At least Grug was here for him. 

"Here it is." Grug smiled, placing the small object into his metal hands. He looked down at it glumly. It would be easy to replace, he'd done it himself more than once. But he didn't want to. He knew he'd hate how he sounded. 

He used to hate his voice back then, too, when it still sounded like this. He'd always thought it was too high, too dorky, too whiny. He'd even longed to speak more monotone, since his voice tended to give away his emotions far too easily. How wrong he'd been grated at him more and more everyday. 

"Can Grug help?" Grug chirped, bringing him out of his thoughts. He was oddly chipper today. 

"Do you know what you're doing?" Transhumanist looked up from his hands, already knowing the answer. 

"...can Grug watch?" He sat back, looking at him with wide, hopeful eyes. Transhumanist frowned. 

"Why? I thought you hated this stuff."

"Grug just… missed you." Heat rushed to his friend's face and he blushed. "Don't want you to get hurt again."

Transhumanist tipped his head slightly. "Oh. Well, you can watch if you'd like." He could feel heat rushing to his own face, and was fortunate that at least his robot body wouldn't give that away. 

Grug smiled again, gripping him in a tight hug. "Be careful." He cautioned, moving back towards his spot at the end of the bed. 

Transhumanist nodded in acknowledgement, then opened a small panel in his neck. Grug sat up slightly but didn't speak, throwing a quick glance at his shoulder. _Odd_ , he thought, but shrugged it off. He was busy right now. 

Pausing, he let his gaze linger on Grug for a moment longer. "...thank you. For helping me." He murmured, trying to make it sound as sincere as he could, while it still sounded like he cared. Grug blushed again. 

"You were sick." He replied bluntly. Transhumanist laughed a little, the sound dancing in his ears and making him want to throw up. Quickly, he started the replacement, before he could make himself feel any worse. 

Grug watched, looking both interested and disgusted. Transhumanist tried to ignore the look on his face and focus on his task, but the sound of his own voice was ringing in his ears and his longing to keep it threatened to swallow him up. 

A task that usually only took ten minutes seemed to stretch into hours, and likely only took about twenty minutes. When it was finally over, he nestled himself back into his bed and looked glumly back over at Grug. 

Grug leaned over him curiously. "Feel better?"

Transhumanist stared at him for a moment, working himself up to speaking. “...I ғᴇᴇʟ ғɪɴᴇ.”

He felt worse. 

"You don't look-"

“Lᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ.” He snapped, the harshness of his words amplified by his stupid buzzing voice. He buried his face in a pillow, miserable. 

Soon after he felt warm arms wrapping around his torso, and Grug's head rested itself against his chest. Neither of them spoke, but the weight in Transhumanist's metaphorical stomach seemed to lift itself a little. 

Returning the hug, Transhumanist moved his face slightly to brush against Grug's hair. He wished he was still human. Grug would probably be much more comfortable and warm if he were human. 

With a sigh, he buried his face into Grug's hair, trying to forget about everything just for a moment. Eventually, he relaxed, holding Grug close and feeling sleepy again. 

“Gᴏᴏᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ, Gʀᴜɢ.” He buzzed quietly, pretending he still sounded normal. 

"Goodnight." Grug whispered, his rough voice soft. Comforted, Transhumanist let his eyes darken. 

The last thing he felt before drifting off was the soft brush of Grug's fingers against his shoulder. Then, for the third time that day, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is still alright


	10. 01000011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am slow

The loud beeping of Transhumanist's phone sounded from his room, accompanied by a startled yelp from Grug. 

“Iɢɴᴏʀᴇ ɪᴛ.” He called. The calls had been going on all day, first from the phone built into his head and eventually to his old cell phone. He knew who it was, and he didn't have the energy to answer them today. 

As Grug drew out of his room, the faint sound of another voicemail dragged itself out behind him. 

_"Transhumanist, I know you're home. Pick up the phone."_

To his distaste, snippets of the last dozens of voicemails dragged themselves back into his thoughts. 

_"If you set up your voice wrong, you can just have that idiot living with you call again."_

_"The appointment is mandatory. Let's just get it over with."_

_"Don't make me send someone over there."_

He groaned, letting his head drop onto his desk with a thud. This would all feel a lot less worse if he still couldn't _feel_.

"Transhumanist?" Grug peered down, smushing his cheek against the desk. "You okay?"

“Fᴀɴᴛᴀsᴛɪᴄ.” He muttered, missing having a tone of voice already. 

"You sure?" Grug frowned, scrunching his face up further. Disheveled brown hair spilled into his eyes. Transhumanist wanted to scream.

“Nᴏ, ᴏғ ᴄᴏᴜʀsᴇ I'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴏᴋᴀʏ! Wʜʏ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ I ʙᴇ?” Transhumanist shouted, bolting back up and slamming his hands on the desk. Startled, Grug stumbled backwards. 

"But you said-" 

“I ᴡᴀs ʙᴇɪɴɢ sᴀʀᴄᴀsᴛɪᴄ!” He snarled. Frustrated, he rested his face back onto the desk. It wasn't even Grug's fault. 

"Oh." Grug shuffled his foot against the rough carpet slightly, sounding guilty. Transhumanist gave his head a good bang against the desk. 

_I'm such an asshole._

Tentatively, after a moment of silence, Grug came and gently rested a hand on his shoulder. He made no move to stop him. 

To his surprise, the man started feeling against it softly, as if he was looking for something. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ?” He asked, still face down against his desk. 

"Just… wanna check something." Grug murmured, poking around a small slot. Finally, he turned to glance at him, annoyed. 

“Wᴇʟʟ, sᴛᴏᴘ ɪᴛ.” He grumbled, still making no move to stop him. Grug ignored him, managing to slide out a small unfamiliar chip. Transhumanist frowned inwardly. 

“Wʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴀᴛ?” He sat up to get a better look at it. Part of him wanted to accuse his friend of putting it there, but he knew that realistically, Grug probably had no idea what the chip even was. He'd had enough trouble finding it just now, anyway. 

To no surprise at all, Grug shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know. He put it in."

Irritated by his chubby human fingers blocking his view, Transhumanist took it from his hands, trying to discern what it could be for. “Aᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴄʜɴɪᴄɪᴀɴ's?”

Grug thought for a second before nodding. "Think so."

Rather than respond, Transhumanist gave it a quick scan. 

_01010100 01101000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 00111010 00001010 01001000 01101001 01100111 01101000 00100000 01100101 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101100 01110011 00001010 01001001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01100100 01101001 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110000 01100001 01101001 01110010 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110001 01110101 01101001 01110010 01100101 01100100_

Suddenly, the electricity in his circuits seemed to run cold. He knew whatever appointment his technician was alluding to wouldn't be good - he was dreading answering the calls for a reason. But if he had been monitoring his emotions, even just for today, it was certainly going to be a lot worse. 

"So?" Grug poked his face up close to the chip, pulling Transhumanist out of his thoughts. "What is it?"

Though distracted by Grug, Transhumanist's mind was still racing. He definitely wasn't in any kind of mood to explain the technology to his friend, especially since he would almost certainly ask a million questions about it. 

“Iᴛ's… ʙᴀᴅ. Iᴛ's ʙᴀᴅ, Gʀᴜɢ.” He finally settled on, as lame an explanation as it was. 

Fortunately, Grug seemed to accept that. "Thought so." He muttered, snatching it from the robot and crumbling it in his fist. 

“Wʜᴀ-” Transhumanist gawked. “Gʀᴜɢ!”

"Yes?" Grug looked back up at him, letting the broken pieces fall to the floor. 

“I ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴇʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ɪᴛ! Tʜᴇʏ'ʟʟ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴅɪᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ!” Transhumanist shouted, exasperated. 

Grug tipped his head to the side. "You going back?" His face furrowed gruffly into a frown. 

“Wᴇʟʟ, ᴏʙᴠɪᴏᴜsʟʏ. I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ.” Transhumanist grunted, scooping the chip's pieces from the floor and opening his computer back up. He had a lot of work to catch up on. 

"Why?" Grug closed the laptop back up, surprisingly gentle for a man who frequently smashed things to bits. 

Transhumanist looked at him, quiet for a moment. “Tʜᴀᴛ's ᴊᴜsᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴀʀᴇ, Gʀᴜɢ.”

"Not in the forest." Grug climbed up onto his desk, shoving the laptop off. It landed on the floor with a crash. _So much for being gentle._

The man sat where his computer used to be, legs dangling over the side and feet resting on his own metallic legs. "You don't listen to anybody in the forest." He smiled.

“Oᴋᴀʏ?” Transhumanist glanced down at the wreckage of his laptop. “Tʜɪs ɪsɴ'ᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏʀᴇsᴛ, ɪs ɪᴛ?”

"No, but…" Grug's face lit up. "But you could come to the forest, with me!"

“I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴡʜᴀᴛ?” The robot gave him what passed for an incredulous look on his limited expression face. 

"Come live in the forest!" Grug repeated, beaming widely. 

“Mᴇ? Lɪᴠᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏʀᴇsᴛ?” Transhumanist tried not to laugh. He'd been regretting this whole robot body thing for a little while, but living in the wild was still a giant leap from wanting a human body. 

"Yes, with me!" Grug happily repeated again, not seeming to get what he was implying. 

“Gʀᴜɢ, ᴅᴏ I ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʟɪᴋᴇ I ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ɪɴ ᴀ ғᴏʀᴇsᴛ?” Transhumanist crossed his arms, emphasising the soft metallic clang they made when they met. 

“You don't belong here." Grug frowned slightly, his mood dampened. 

“Wʜʏ ɴᴏᴛ? Yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ғɪᴛ ɪɴ ʜᴇʀᴇ.” Transhumanist gestured to the man. They'd never gotten a chance to get those new clothes, or that haircut. He looked like an absolute disaster. 

"You either." Grug protested, jabbing a finger into his face in return. "Man said you don't act normal."

“Yᴇᴀʜ, ᴡᴇʟʟ, I ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ.” Transhumanist felt frustration and anxiety bubble up inside him. “Aɴᴅ ᴡʜᴀᴛ's ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ, ᴀɴʏᴡᴀʏ? Tʜᴇʏ'ʀᴇ ᴊᴜsᴛ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ғɪx ɪᴛ ɴᴇxᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ I ɢᴏ.”

"But you can't!" Grug exclaimed, leaning forward into the other's face. "You said that was bad!"

“Iᴛ's ᴘʀᴏʙᴀʙʟʏ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇsᴛ.” Transhumanist pushed him back gently, shrugging slightly. 

"But he's going to…" Grug scrunched up his face, trying to remember his conversation at the appointment. "to…"

“Tᴏ ᴡʜᴀᴛ, Gʀᴜɢ?” Transhumanist snapped. 

The man bit his lip slightly. "... _change_ you."

Transhumanist's anxiety rose, but he stubbornly crammed it down. “Fɪx ᴍʏ ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴs ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟ? Fɪɴᴇ. Tʜᴇʏ ᴡᴇʀᴇɴ'ᴛ sᴜᴘᴘᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪs.” He couldn't help but feel he was trying to convince himself as much as Grug. 

"But…" Grug looked down at him, large desperate eyes glistening. "I like you like this."

Looking up into those eyes again, Transhumanist felt a flurry of panic. Grug was right. 

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He gripped his head, another metallic clang ringing out. _No, he's right. This is wrong._

He couldn't go back, not after all he'd done with Grug, and all he'd felt. Would Grug even recognize him after? _Would I even recognize him?_

Grug gently bonked the top of his head with a pen, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Sorry." He mumbled. 

Transhumanist's breath hitched. Breathing had always been optional, but he'd been using it more since Grug arrived, he realized. 

“Dᴏɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ.” He panted back, head still a buzzing flurry of thoughts. If he wasn't going to return to be fixed, the forest still seemed pretty drastic. 

Then again, nobody ever went to the forest.

"You still going?" Grug murmured, bright green eyes a little more hopeful. 

When he nodded, the man breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." He smiled. "We going to the forest, then?"

“I ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ sᴀɪᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ.” Transhumanist gave him a look. “I'ᴍ sᴛɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴜɪʟᴛ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ.”

"I would help you." Grug urged. "I grew up there."

Transhumanist rubbed the side of his silver head, still trying to collect his thoughts. “...I'ʟʟ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ɪᴛ, ᴏᴋᴀʏ?”

"Okay!" Grug grinned, hopping off the desk and onto his poor laptop. It folded in on itself with a crunch. 

Transhumanist sighed, making a note to himself to purchase a new one soon. “Gᴏ ғɪɴᴅ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴀᴛ ғᴏʀ ɴᴏᴡ.” He needed a little peace and quiet to think.

As Grug hopped off to the kitchen, Transhumanist leaned back in his chair, feeling cluttered. He couldn't just keep moping around about this appointment - he had to do something about it. Even if it was just for Grug. 

Even if it meant he had to leave.


	11. 01010011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110011

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello monthly 3am update here

The world used to have more colour. Transhumanist recalled, dimly, how he used to hang out the window of his apartment and stare up at the twinkling night sky. On the best nights, the moon was full and bright, its smoothly scooped craters visible if he strained his eyes enough. The stars around it shone like the fireflies that lazily flew around him, reflecting their small lights in the lenses of his old glasses. He'd loved those nights.

Nowadays, all he could hang out the window was his head, and he'd only felt tempted to recently. The bulging moon looked duller, almost grey. The stars reminded him more of the soulless lights glowing on his own body. He wasn't sure if the world had changed, or if he really had lost a part of himself. 

Glumly, he turned away from the window, intending on heading to bed. Grug looked up from his creative take on a puzzle. 

"What's wrong?" His voice was soft. Transhumanist wondered if he would have found it softer before.

“Nᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ.” He hummed quietly. It sounded mechanical, the buzz lingering like a bad taste in his mouth. 

Curious, Grug wandered over to the window and poked his head out. 

“Gʀᴜɢ, ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴊᴜsᴛ… I ᴡᴀs ᴊᴜsᴛ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴋʏ.” Transhumanist stepped in beside him, looking out reluctantly. Grug's eyebrows were furrowed in distaste. 

"Easier to see stars in the forest." He grunted. 

Transhumanist felt a twinge in his chest. Maybe it really was the world that had changed around him. 

“Cᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ?” He looked at Grug pleadingly. What did he have to lose at this point?

"Really?" The man seemed surprised. He couldn't blame him. "Does this mean we leaving?"

Transhumanist hesitated, something inside him flipping nervously. Did he really want to go move out to the forest and live like some wild animal? He looked at Grug uncertainly. 

"We don't have to." Grug shrugged a little, looking back up at the sky. "But… you would be safe."

Anxieties about the appointment he wasn't going to hit him in the gut. He hadn't even been _thinking_ about that. 

"And it is pretty." Grug traced a finger along the outside of the windowsill. "I miss it."

Transhumanist remained silent, collecting his thoughts. If the stars in the forest were brighter, that would certainly make him feel better. And it _would_ be a good hideout if he was about to become some kind of outlaw. 

The robot looked to Grug, who was still gazing longingly out the window. 

_He would be happier in the forest._

“...ᴏᴋᴀʏ.” He finally decided, startling Grug out of his trance. 

"Huh?" The man shook his hair out, scrambling back out of the window. 

“Wᴇ'ʟʟ ɢᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏʀᴇsᴛ.” Saying it out loud made it feel like butterflies were fluttering around in his circuits, but he couldn't change his mind now. Not when Grug's eyes were gleaming like that. 

"Really?!" He grinned, jumping up to wrap Transhumanist in a hug. "Grug will take good care of you." 

Transhumanist would have blushed if he could. “Yᴏᴜ, ᴜʜ, ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ.”

"No, Grug doesn't mind." The man grinned wider. "You not used to living outside."

“Iᴛ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀʀᴅ.” Despite his earlier complaints, he didn't want Grug toting after him all the time. It wasn't like he would starve to death or anything. 

Grug frowned at him, moving back to cross his arms. "Well, it not easy."

“Iғ ʙɪʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ sǫᴜɪʀʀᴇʟs ᴄᴀɴ ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ, I'ᴍ sᴜʀᴇ I ᴄᴀɴ.” He teased, pulling the man back into a hug. 

Grug scoffed, pushing him off. "Birds and squirrels are very smart."

“Mᴍʜᴍᴍ.” Transhumanist pulled him in for another hug. “Wɪʟʟ ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɴᴏᴡ?”

Grug smiled, rolling his eyes. "You don't eat, anyway."

“Nᴏ sǫᴜɪʀʀᴇʟ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ, ᴛʜᴇɴ?” Grug's eyes were alight with amusement, and he hoped his looked the same. 

"Nope, all for me." Grug laughed. It was a very nice sound. 

“Wᴇʟʟ, ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ I'ʟʟ ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴀ ғᴇᴡ sǫᴜɪʀʀᴇʟs ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴsᴛᴇᴀᴅ.” He hummed. 

"I'd like to see you try!" Grug laughed harder.

“Wᴏᴡ, ᴏᴋᴀʏ.” Transhumanist turned his head in mock offense. “I'ᴍ sᴜʀᴇ I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴘʟᴇɴᴛʏ ᴏғ sǫᴜɪʀʀᴇʟs.”

"You couldn't even catch me!" Grug grinned, leaping away and jumping onto the couch.

“Oʜ ʏᴇᴀʜ?” Transhumanist laughed a little, turning to face him better.

"Yeah!" Grug stuck his tongue out. 

Transhumanist's eyes lit up brighter. “Wᴇ'ʟʟ sᴇᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ!” He shouted playfully, jumping towards the couch. 

Grug leaped off, crashing into the wall and tumbling off towards the bedroom. Transhumanist laughed, chasing after him. 

Maybe the forest wouldn't be so bad after all.


End file.
